Stairway seat car elevator

ABSTRACT

The stairway seat elevator is composed of a pair of guide rails mounted on the side of a staircase in vertically spaced parallel relation, a seat car frame extending between said rails for guided movement therebetween along said stairway by means of a pulley mounted on said frame and a cable fixed at the top of the stairs and passed around this pulley and back to the top of the stairs over other pulleys to a cable drum, a non-reversible drive means for said cable drum, and a reversible motor coupled to said drive means, limit switch control means for said motor to move said seat car in alternate directions between the top and bottom of said stairway each time the control circuit is activated, and safety stop means for said seat car responsive to any slack in said cable.

Waited States Patent 1 Pads [45] July 31, 1973 [54] STAIRWAY SEAT CAR ELEVATOR Primary Examiner-Evon C. Blunk [76] Inventor: Louis G. Puls, 6665 Garrison sr., hammer-"Mme Awada, Colo. 80002 Att0rney-Walter S. Pawl [22] Filed: Jan. 18, 1972 57 ABSTRACT [2]] Appl. No.: 218,798 1 The stairway seat elevator is composed of a pair of guide rails mounted on the side of a staircase in vertigF f' 'g 187/12 2i g cally spaced parallel relation, a seat car frame extendg 82/1/03 ing between said rails for guided movement therebe- I l e 0 l tween along said stairway by means of a pulley mounted on said frame and a cable fixed at the top of the stairs and passed around this pulley and back to the [56] References Cited top of the stairs over other pulleys to a cable drum, a UNITED STATES PATENTS non-reversible drive means for said cable drum, and a 1,473,813 11/1923 Crispen l87/l2 f said limit 2,856,027 0/1958 Schryver 187/12 switch control means for sa1d motor to move sa1d seat 2 5 3 7 1/1952 Sam, et a1 n 187/12 car 1n alternate dlrectlons between the top and bottom 2,888,099 5/1959 Hoffmann 187/12 0f said stairway e ti e the control circuit is activated, and safety stop means for said seat car responsive to any slack in said cable.

2 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PMENEEB .1113 a ma sum 1 or "man..." m

STAIRWAY SEAT CAR ELEVATOR Staircase elevators with which this invention is concerned are designed for installation in private dwellings. They are intended for use mainly by those persons who may have some difficulty in climbing or walking down the stairs due to age'or other infirmities. Such elevators must be of a rugged and compact construction, adaptable for installation in existing as well as new buildings, without causing unnecessary obstruction to the normal use of the stairway by pedestrians. Such elevators will accommodate only one person at a time, and as the user is usually an aged or partially disabled person, they must be easy and completely safe to operate.

Some of the desirable features of a staircase elevator are economy, simplicity, strength, compactness, ease of maintenance and absolute safety in operation by the infirm without any assistance.

Elevators which have been provided for installation and operation along a staircase in the past, have not satisfactorily met these desirable requirements, especially those of economy, compactness, safety and ease of operation. The closest prior art found, such Schryver U.S. Pat. No. 2856027 and Hardigan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2950948, leave much to be desired in meeting most of these requirements.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple but strong construction of a seat car frame mounted between a pair of parallel vertically spaced guide rails for movement along the side of a staircase to which said rails are fixed, the seat being hinged to said car frame for folding up out of the way when not in use, and a simple cable and pulley system with a A; H.P. motor driving a drum for taking up or releasing the cable therefrom to move said seat car up or down said staircase.

A further object is to provide a control circuit for said motor with limit switch means for automatically opening the circuit and reversing its connections to the motor at the end of each trip of the seat car, so that the motor will be set for starting in a reverse direction when the circuit is again closed for initiating the next reverse trip of the seat car.

A further object is to provide a simple safety device for stopping the car as soon as any slack in the cable occurs as a result of cable breakage or other malfunction.

A further object is to provide a novel form of limit switch means for connection to the drum drive, which is reliable and easy to adjust.

A further object is to provide home elevator kits consisting of the above mentioned parts, made adaptable for installation on the side of any existing or newly built staircase.

Other and more specific objects will become apparent in the following detailed description of one form of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a side view of a staircase in section and the seat car elevator installed on the far side thereof,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the seat car taken on the line 2-2 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows a wiring diagram of the operating control circuit for the motor,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the limit switch means, the cover plate opening being shown in dotted lines,

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 in FIG.

FIG. 6 shows the safety wedge means mounted on the plate in the lower portion of the seat car frame, and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 in FIG. 6.

The staircase seat elevator illustrated in the drawings consists of a pair of guide rails 10 and 12 mounted in vertically spaced relation at one side of the staircase I4 and a seat car frame 16 mounted therebetwccn for movement along said side of the staircase by means of a simple cable and pulley system 18 operated by a Vs H.P. motor 20 which drives a drum 22 for pulling the cable 24 to lift the seat car to the top of the stairs, and for releasing it to lower the car to the bottom thereof, under the control of a limit switch circuit shown in FIG. 3.

The motor 20 drives the drum through a nonreversible drive such as a worm gear on the drum shaft, the worm of which is coupled to the motor so that the force of gravity on the car will not be transmitted to the motor shaft but will move the car down the guide tracks only when permitted by reverse operation of the motor to release the cable from the drum at motor speed.

The pulley system includes the cable 24 which is fastened at its upper end to the anchor 26 at the top of the stairs, and is passed around the pulley 28 on the seat car and then over the pulleys 30 and 32 to the drum 22 which may be suitably placed out of sight under the staircase where its worm gear drive is coupled at 34 to the motor 20.

The limit switch means and relay housing 44 is placed alongside of the drum 22 and is driven by a belt 36 from a pulley 38 on the drum shaft, said belt being passed around the pulley 40 on the threaded shaft 42 of the limit switch means 44.

Shaft 42 has a grooved ring 46 freely slidable on this shaft and a nut 48 threaded thereon at each side of said grooved ring. As the shaft 42 is turned, when the portions of the cover 50 over each nut outside opening 52 as shown in FIGS. 5 8L 6, both nuts travel in the same direction corresponding to the direction of travel of the seat car, until it reaches the end of the staircase, when the nut traveling toward the grooved ring has pushed it sufficiently to trip the toggle switches 54 and 56 to stop the motor and reverse its input terminals to set it for reverse operation whenever the control circuit is switched on again for the next trip of the seat car, to the other end of the staircase. The constant spacing between the nuts 48 is determined and adjusted to the length of travel of the seat car, as registered by the number of turns of the drum which drives the threaded shaft 42 through a corresponding number of turns in a corresponding direction during each trip of the car between the ends of the staircase. The opening 52 in the cover 50 is just long enough to permitthe grooved ring to travel to the extreme positions of the double throw toggle switches 54 and 56; however, the nuts 48 extend only partially into this opening before the toggle switches are tripped to the opposite end of their throws and disengage the grooved ring away from the nut and the operation is stopped before the nut moves out entirely from its restraining engagement with the cover 50.

The switches 54 and 56 are mounted in the sides 58 and 60 of the housing 44, the cover 50 being mounted on the top of the bearing support plates 62 and 64 between these sides.

The starter buttons 66 and 68 are placed within easy reach from the seat car at the top and bottom of the staircase respectively, and are connected in parallel to the control circuit to initiate the travel of the seat car on its trip to the opposite end of the staircase.

A /32 inch aviation cable may be safely used since it is rated for a 2,800lb. maximum load. However, a safety wedge lever 70 is pivotally mounted at 72 on the plate 74 which extends over the lower portion of the seat car frame 16 and provides the pinion bearing supports for the forward grooved wheel truck 76, the lower grooved wheel truck 78 and the grooved pulley 28 over which the cable is passed for lifting or lowering the seat car when the motor is operating to turn the cable drum in the corresponding direction. The grooved wheels ride on the upper edge of an angle track which is firmly mounted on the side of the staircase over the toes thereof to form the lower guide rail 10.

The upper guide rail 12 is formed by a Z-bar mounted firmly on the same side of the staircase in vertically spaced relation and parallel to the lower guide rail 10. The lower vertical flange of the Z-bar extends downwardly into the space between the back of the seat frame 16 and the rollers 82 mounted on vertical pivots extending from the horizontal flange of an angle iron bar 84 fixed to the back of the seat frame.

A hinged seat 86 is provided at a suitable height on the front of the seat frame and is folded upwardly out of the way when not in use. A back cushion 88 may also be mounted on the front of the seat frame as well as a handle 89 conveniently located at the side thereof.

The safety wedge lever 70 has an idler pulley 90 biased against the cable 24 by the spring 92 which has a threaded bolt 94 at its outer end passing through a bracket 96 which is mounted on the plate 74, with a knurled nut 98 for adjustment of the spring tension to promptly move the wedge 100, which is pivoted to the lower end of lever 70, along the upper edge of the angle track and under the grooved wheel of the forward truck 76, thus immediately stopping the seat car by wedging its frame firmly in place between the guide rails, in the event of any slack produced in the cable as a result of its breakage or loosening for any other reason such as temporary jamming of the car on its trip downwardly or other malfunction.

This type of elevators may be provided in kit form, suitable for most staircases within a range of lengths for which suitable lengths of the guide rails could be included. Such kits would be easy to install without requiring any alteration to most existing stairways and without causing any substantial interference with the normal use of the staircase by pedestrian traffic, since the seat frame with the handle and the folded seat protrudes not more than 5 inches from the side of the staircase. Even when the seat is used it would hardly extend more than half way across the average width of a stairway, so that a pedestrian could easily pass by when necessary.

For quiet operation, the wheels and rollers may be made of suitable plastic materials.

Many obvious modifications in the details and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

I claim:

I. A stairway seat car elevator comprising a pair of parallel vertically spaced supporting guide rails mounted on the side of said staircase,

a substantially flat seat car frame movabbly mounted between said guide rails and having a foldable seat hinged thereto at a suitable height to sit on when it is pulled down to extend into the stairway,

a pulley system for moving said seat car between the top and bottom of said staircase,

said pulley system including a pulley mounted on said seat car frame,

a cable having one end fixed at the top of said stairway and passed around said pulley,

a motorized cable drum for rolling and unrolling the other end of said cable to move the seat car frame up and down said stairway,

said drum having a non-reversible drive coupled to a reversible motor,

a control circuit for said motor including a double pole double throw reversing toggle switch and a single polo double throw relay control toggle switch,

a limit control means operated by the rotation of said drum to stop the motor at the end of each trip of said car between the top and bottom of said stairway and to reset said reversing switch to reverse its input terminals, and

a push button at each end of said stairway for operation to initiate each trip, said push button switches being connected in parallel to close said relay switches and energize the motor for its entire trip in the corresponding direction.

2. A stairway seat car elevator comprising a pair of parallel vertically spaced supporting guide rails mounted on the side of said staircase,

a substantially flat seat car frame movably mounted between said guide rails and having a foldable seat hinged thereto at a suitable height to sit on when it is pulled down to extend into the stairway,

a pulley system for moving said seat car between the top and bottom of said staircase,

said pulley system including a pulley mounted on said seat car frame,

a cable having one end fixed at the top of said stairway and passed around said pulley,

a motorized cable drum for rolling and unrolling the other end of said cable to move the seat car frame up and down said stairway,

said drum having a non-reversible drive coupled to a reversible motor,

a control circuit for said motor including a double pole double throw reversing toggle switch and a single pole double throw relay control toggle switch,

a limit control means operated by the rotation of said drum to stop the motor at the end of each trip of said car between the top and bottom of said stairway and to reset said reversing switch to reverse its input terminals,

a push button at each end of said stairway for operation to initiate each trip, said push button switches being connected in parallel to close said relay switches and energize the motor for its entire trip in the corresponding direction,

said limit control means including a threaded shaft turned by operation of said drum,

a pair of spaced hexagonal nuts on said shaft and having restraining means against turning, so that the rotating shaft will make them travel axially thereon ring groove for simultaneous tripping operation by the nuts engaging said ring alternately from opposite directions to trip said toggle switches into their opposite throws at the end of each car trip between the top and bottom of said stairway. 

1. A stairway seat car elevator comprising a pair of parallel vertically spaced supporting guide rails mounted on the side of said staircase, a substantially flat seat car frame movabbly mounted between said guide rails and having a foldable seat hinged thereto at a suitable height to sit on when it is pulled down to extend into the stairway, a pulley system for moving said seat car between the top and bottom of said staircase, said pulley system including a pulley mounted on said seat car frame, a cable having one end fixed at the top of said stairway and passed around said pulley, a motorized cable drum for rolling and unrolling the other end of said cable to move the seat car frame up and down said stairway, said drum having a non-Reversible drive coupled to a reversible motor, a control circuit for said motor including a double pole double throw reversing toggle switch and a single pole double throw relay control toggle switch, a limit control means operated by the rotation of said drum to stop the motor at the end of each trip of said car between the top and bottom of said stairway and to reset said reversing switch to reverse its input terminals, and a push button at each end of said stairway for operation to initiate each trip, said push button switches being connected in parallel to close said relay switches and energize the motor for its entire trip in the corresponding direction.
 2. A stairway seat car elevator comprising a pair of parallel vertically spaced supporting guide rails mounted on the side of said staircase, a substantially flat seat car frame movably mounted between said guide rails and having a foldable seat hinged thereto at a suitable height to sit on when it is pulled down to extend into the stairway, a pulley system for moving said seat car between the top and bottom of said staircase, said pulley system including a pulley mounted on said seat car frame, a cable having one end fixed at the top of said stairway and passed around said pulley, a motorized cable drum for rolling and unrolling the other end of said cable to move the seat car frame up and down said stairway, said drum having a non-reversible drive coupled to a reversible motor, a control circuit for said motor including a double pole double throw reversing toggle switch and a single pole double throw relay control toggle switch, a limit control means operated by the rotation of said drum to stop the motor at the end of each trip of said car between the top and bottom of said stairway and to reset said reversing switch to reverse its input terminals, a push button at each end of said stairway for operation to initiate each trip, said push button switches being connected in parallel to close said relay switches and energize the motor for its entire trip in the corresponding direction, said limit control means including a threaded shaft turned by operation of said drum, a pair of spaced hexagonal nuts on said shaft and having restraining means against turning, so that the rotating shaft will make them travel axially thereon at constant spacing while in sliding engagement with said restraining means, and a grooved ring freely slidable over said threaded shaft between said nuts, said toggle switches being mounted at opposite sides of said shaft with their toggles extending into said ring groove for simultaneous tripping operation by the nuts engaging said ring alternately from opposite directions to trip said toggle switches into their opposite throws at the end of each car trip between the top and bottom of said stairway. 